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Happy Valentine’s Day

TheeWriter

Hello Creative Writer, Happy Valentine’s Day! This was always one of my favorite holidays because as a kid you got to have a party in school. Everyone brought in valentine’s and treats and you got to exchange them.  Every year my mother bought me a pretty new dress; usually red or pink and covered in hearts to wear and it was pure fun. As difficult as it might be to believe, this holiday of love and kindness actually stems from a violent and horrific past. The Catholic Church honored two men, both named Valentine, who were both executed by Emperor … Continue reading Happy Valentine’s Day

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Minutes from February 11, 2019 Meeting

noodlepoet

This week’s meeting focused on the query letter. The topic can be a little mystifying, but Thomasa’s been querying her novels for a while now and was able to break down the process for us: its importance if you’ve chosen the traditional publishing route, how to research and choose agents who are both trustworthy and a good fit for your work, how to write a query letter, and how to approach a contract once your letter is successful. You can get the handout from the meeting here. It includes a formatting guide and a sample query letter broken down and … Continue reading Minutes from February 11, 2019 Meeting

Craft Talks2 Comments

Query Writing Craft Talk Notes

TheeWriter

Query Writing for Beginners The world of publication is always changing but the thing you need to remember more than anything else is that It’s a Business. These people make their livings on writing- it’s not a hobby and they are only interested in words that are going to sell and sell a lot. You are providing a product to them that they can change, package, market and distribute. With that in mind, you have to convince them that your story is worth investing in because in the long run it will make money. You should finish your story because … Continue reading Query Writing Craft Talk Notes

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The Query

TheeWriter

Hello Creative Writer, As was mentioned in the minutes from our last meeting, next week we will be having a craft talk about writing query letters, which I will be leading. Before that talk I wanted to provide a little background. This might be good for thinking up questions and topics of discussion. What is a Query Letter anyway? When I think of a Query Letter I think of a Cover Letter. When you submit an application for a job you are often asked to include a Cover letter. This is an important writing skill for even “non-writer” writers. This … Continue reading The Query

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Minutes from February 4, 2019 Meeting

noodlepoet

Yesterday we talked about our writing goals: what we’re looking forward to accomplishing this year, what we’re doing to stay on track, and whether we’ve had to reexamine our goals. Last semester’s character talks have inspired us to really focus on character development in all of our projects, as well as finishing projects rather than simply focusing on word counts, and we’re looking forward to more inspiring craft talks and opportunities to experiment with new forms and genres in the months to come. Thomasa recommends Pinterest for storyboarding your projects, which helps if you don’t have space for a corkboard … Continue reading Minutes from February 4, 2019 Meeting

Writing ResourcesLeave a comment

Resolve, Review, Persist

noodlepoet

New Year’s resolutions tend to start gathering dust around February, and the artistic kind can be especially difficult to justify, especially when things get busy. But there’s no shame in starting over, and in fact there’s something to be said for not even starting until February. Whether you’re a month into a new habit and reassessing your goals for the year or just starting yours out, here’s a reminder of why you made those writing resolutions in the first place, and permission to take them seriously, in case you need it: In 2019: Persist, Persist, Persist.   Continue reading Resolve, Review, Persist

Club Meeting Minutes1 Comment

Minutes from January 28, 2019 meeting

noodlepoet

First off, from here on out meetings will be limited to one hour. Anyone is welcome to hang out longer than that, but the time limit will help keep some of our discussions on track and ensure no one’s driving home too late on winter roads. Our next meeting will be Monday, February 4th at 5pm in the library. There’s no discussion on the agenda for next week so everyone can focus on their own projects, bearing in mind everything we learned about dialogue. We talked about its many roles in a narrative, how it contributes to plot and characterization, … Continue reading Minutes from January 28, 2019 meeting

Craft Talks1 Comment

Dialogue

noodlepoet

This week’s discussion was all about dialogue. If you missed the meeting and didn’t get the handout, you can find Thomasa’s tips for writing good dialogue over here, and here’s the rest of what the group came up with: How your characters speak is just as important as what is said. Be descriptive, but resist the urge to get too fancy with your dialogue tags—”said” is perfectly fine, and leaning too heavily on more interesting synonyms and adverbs can clutter up your writing; basically, make them count. Realistic speech isn’t grammatically correct, so dialogue doesn’t have to be and can … Continue reading Dialogue

Writing Resources1 Comment

Writing Dialogue- 10 Tips for Writing Good Dialogue

TheeWriter

Writing Dialogue 10 Tips to Writing Good Dialogue Dialogue is used with purpose to reveal information to the reader that is known to the character. Do this carefully. The lines should still sound realistic and one character should not be delegated all the exposition, this makes that character feel one dimensional and tedious. Avoid information dumping. Space things out to create suspense and keep the sections of dialogue short. Most people don’t like being stuck listening to a long monologue- unless you’re Shakespeare and the character is talking to himself. Make sure that the reader knows who is speaking– This … Continue reading Writing Dialogue- 10 Tips for Writing Good Dialogue